The present invention relates to free standing, movable panel systems which are hard wired with electrical wiring. Hard wired systems include enclosed electrical wiring which is usually prewired into the panels at the factory or field installed with prewired modules. This is distinguished from merely providing a wiring way into which electrical cords or "casual wiring" can be laid. Hard wiring is encased in some form of conduit or enclosure so as to be inaccessible to the user at least without the use of tools.
This distinction is important in complying with local electrical codes. Codes typically prevent one from running casual wiring from panel to panel. Thus, in offices without hard wired panels, the advance planning must be very carefully done so that an electrical power tombstone can be located in each work area which is to be enclosed by the panels. The design of an office system around such panels becomes quite difficult.
Prior art hard wired panel systems have the wiring enclosed in a wiring way at the base of the panel. At least one electrical outlet or plug receptacle is usually located along each wiring way. This allows one to plug in office equipment and lighting fixtures which are typically mounted on the panel.
One problem with such a system is that you can only load a given circuit to certain limits. Accordingly, where everyone in the office has lights and office equipment to plug in, one may have to limit the number of panels interconnected on a single electrical circuit to that number which will provide for only two or three work stations. A single circuit including lighting which is considered a continuous load must by code be reduced 20% in allowable current carrying capacity. This further reduces the single circuit system efficiency.
Also, electrical codes typically limit the number of receptacles one can place on a single circuit. Typically, one must limit the number of outlet locations on the circuit to twelve. To avoid putting outlets where they are not needed and to thereby maximize outlet location on a single circuit, one again needs to very carefully plan his office system in advance and order some of the panels without outlets included. If one changes the system at a later date and wants an outlet in a panel which has previously been ordered without one, one either has to rebuild the panel, order a new panel, or rearrange existing panels in some way.
Another drawback to existing hard wired panel systems lie in the panel power connector which extends between adjacent panels and carries current from one to the other. If a cable is used between adjacent panels, the cable is readily visible and unsightly when one adjusts adjacent panels so as to be at an angle to one another rather than in a straight line. The cable is visible at the outside of the apex of the angle.
The only way heretofore conceived to avoid this problem is to employ a panel power connector which has surfaces which are decoratively coherent with the base covers typically employed to cover wiring ways and which includes some sort of hinge between its two segments.